Evaluating and arriving at an ideal career choice

Choosing the right career path is one of the most crucial decisions that needs to be made jointly by both the child and the parents. You cannot leave your child’s future to luck, chance, or destiny. Children constantly need career guidance and support to explore the best options and choose the right path.

A 3D approach

There are several ways that one can choose to decide on what one’s perfect career may be. However, with a more structured approach, one can easily arrive at making the informed choice. This process can be made simpler with use of ‘3D approach’. Using this method, your child will be able to take precise decisions. This approach broadly entails three steps – Discover, Determine, and Decide. For instance, if the child is interested in pursuing a career in law, this is how they can approach it: 


Discover — Occupation: This is the primary focus in deciding a career path. With respect to corporate law, discover first if the child wants to become a practicing lawyer, a legal business advisor with an organisation or a corporate consultant for law firms.

Determine — Stream and subjects: This would involve choosing relevant subjects such as political science, history, business studies, sociology, or economics. These subjects will provide a support base for understanding the core subject.  According to experts, choosing political science and sociology in class 11 is the best way to score high in CLAT. It gives you an edge above others, not only in the entrance exam but also during the initial years in law school.

Decide - Institute and entrance exam: The National Law School is the preferred choice for aspiring law students and is located across state capitals. Other options include West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences and Rajiv Gandhi School of Intellectual Property Law  among others. The Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) conducted by  National Law Schools is the gateway to studying in premier law institutes in India.

Role of parents

A recent LinkedIn study says that a whopping 82 per cent parents in India are involved in deciding their children’s careers. This study reiterates that your role, as a parent, is crucial in shaping your child’s future. Another study by Ernst &Young reported that nearly half of all parents are unaware of the range of options open to young people turning 18. Further, more than half didn’t fully understood the long-term implications for their children’s careers.

The current Indian obsession with engineering degree often leads to a herd mentality. Bogged down by peer pressure, many often begin preparations for engineering courses without understanding if their child is truly cut out for it! Many students that we come across in our sessions have picked interesting career options such as UX designer, Sports marketing, photojournalism, animation, genetics, social media manager, marine biology and environmental engineering among others.  Today, there are over 250 career options available in India for students to pursue.
Specialist edge

If you have to help your child find their ‘true calling’, it is important to chart a roadmap right after class 10 till the complete destination. This involves having all the information about the stream, electives, colleges, specialised institutes and entrance exams relevant to the career your child wants to pursue after class 10.

For instance, if your child is interested in pursuing a career in pure sciences, the ideal way into premier institutes such as the Indian Institute of Science is through the Kishore Vaigyanik Protsahan Yojana (KVPY) exam conducted by the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India.

Likewise, there are many entrance exams for different courses and premier institutions in the country. One must be aware of such exams and key requirements and dates so that your child does not miss out a seat to studying in the best institutions in India. This is where professional career counseling play an important role by offering parents the right information at the right time to form an informed decision with respect to career, stream, college, exam and tutorial.

(the author is founder and CEO, Lodestar Career Guidance)